#HogsAbroad Student Blogger Spotlight: alright, alright, alright

“You just gotta keep livin’ man, l-i-v-i-n.” –David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey, Dazed and Confused)

It seems so simple, almost silly even. But, this is something that I feel every study abroad student has to deal with on almost a daily basis in the early days of living in a foreign country. Just imagine everything you see every single day: the floor, your bed, your sheets, your room, the kitchen, the trees outside, the grass, the cars on the street, the streets, the buildings, the people, other people’s clothing, the grocery store, the items IN the store… I could go on for ages. Just imagine all of those things and then imagine they are completely different than anything you’ve lived in or around before. It seems like something you’d get used to really quickly, but the process of acclimation, especially for me, comes in waves.

I was very homesick the first two days I was here just because I didn’t know anyone, any places around me and I had nothing to do. Luckily, intro week came quickly and we had something to do everyday to keep us busy and I made friends really quickly. So the first week went swimmingly but then that Sunday, I got hit with another wave of homesickness.

Then, school started! Yay! Structure! I felt so much better having a schedule, more secure. Plus, my group of friends and I planned our first trip of the semester, Oslo! First week of class FLEW by but, again the weekend came and it was GAME DAY back home and lets just say that Saturday was particularly difficult for me. DARN YOU SNAPCHAT!!! Luckily, I have some pretty cool friends here already and they kept me out and about. Plus, the time difference helped, I was asleep by the time most kids were at the game.

This week has been pretty great so far. The weather has been great, knock on wood, classes have been fine and my group planned another trip to BARCELONA in November! I couldn’t be more excited! We have so many trips in mind but it’s so gratifying to have one set in stone. Next up, Dublin, London + Paris, Prague, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and I’m open to suggestions as well.

Lesson of the week: keep yourself busy. If I stay in and watch South Park all day (yes they have southparkstudios.dk here thank the Lord) I will get bored then think about home and my friends and then get sad, and we don’t want that at all! So, if you’re studying abroad keep busy as much as possible, make friends, go bike around and explore stuff even if you have NOOOO idea where you’re going, odds are you’ll find something cool! Also, museums are always a great option. I’m actually planning on hitting up several museums here this weekend including modern art museums, an open air cultural museum and a really dope artifact museum out in the forrest somewhere.

Other than the random waves of homesickness, I love this place more and more everyday. Like, I see this when I roll out of my apartment every morning…

And there’s always something going on in the city. Like this past weekend, there was a food festival–2 of my favorite things–and you better believe we all hit that UP.

Credit: Colette Bersie

So like I said, just keep busy with friends, never forget actually how far you are from home, never forget how lucky you are to get to do this, never stop appreciating the beauty around you.
Stay tuned, kids.

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Read more from Meaghan at https://meaghanshus.wordpress.com/

To find out more about her exchange program at Aarhus School of Business in Denmark, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/wcobaarhus